The excitement has already begun. Pre-events start on Saturday, September 17, and the ACBS Annual Meeting Welcome is Wednesday, September 21.
Here’s another vintage boat preview of a True Tahoe Boat owned by David West.
WEST WINDS, a 25 ft. Chris-Craft Sportsman was manufactured and shipped from Chris-Craft on December 5, 1947, to Tahoe Boat Company without engine or propeller. There, Tahoe’s famed Dick Clark installed the Scripps Model 302 V-12 engine. It is reasonably certain that this is the only Chris-Craft to have a Scripps V-12 as it original power. The first owner was Rudolph Zimmerman of Tahoe’s West Shore and Tahoe Yacht Club commodore (1951-1952), who named the boat ZIM-A-RU.
The boat’s second owner was Zimmerman’s friend, Howard Bloom, who renamed the boat HOBO. Beginning in the 50’s, Bloom kept the boat on Tahoe’s North Shore and towed countless water skiers of Lake Forest, including youths Allen Bray, Bill Hunter, and Grandin West. In 1976, the boat was sold to HOBO Partnership and taken to South Lake Tahoe for continued enjoyment.
In June 2004, HOBO arrived back on the North Shore at Sierra Boat Company for disposition. Purchased in October of that year by David and Nancy West, the Sportsman remained warehoused until preservation / restoration began in the fall of 2005. The project at Sierra Boat Co. proceeded in successive stages under the direction of Pat Bagan, with Chris Brogna supervising the refinishing and Mike Boone attending to the mechanical work and rebuilding the Scripps V-12 engine. Upon completion, HOBO was renamed WEST WINDS.
WEST WINDS re-entered the water in June 2009, just in time for the 2009 Lake Tahoe Concours d’Elegance, and is expected to be used and enjoyed on Lake Tahoe for years to come.